Braids, Afros, and Dreads — A Historical Tradition
Braids, cornrows, twists, dreadlocks are hairstyles that we see on a day-to-day basis. Controversial discussions have taken place regarding if White people should wear these hairstyles. Still, these hairstyles are worn by a variety of people. What is interesting to learn is where exactly did these hairstyles come from. For people who don't understand why the Black community seem to be protective over these hairstyles, I hope this blog post will help their understanding of why these hairstyles are important to many Black people.
Plaiting and braiding hair can be seen in a variety of cultures including Native Americans, Chinese and ancient Greece. However, plaiting and braiding hair has survived African traditions and culture for centuries, with it still being used today.
‘Think dreadlocks’ were used hundreds of years ago by Nubian, Egyptian and Ancient Hebrew communities. These kind of hair designs spread throughout Africa, becoming commonplace in many Chiefdoms and Kingdoms. In Nigeria, a statue dating back to 500BC features people with braided hair, illustrating how long this hairstyle has been around for.
Braids quickly became synonymous with status and position in society. The hairstyle communicated several different messages, including: what status the person possessed in society, their spiritual connections, escape routes for the enslaved and if they were a widow/er. They also became a fashion statement.
Fast-forwarding to more recent history, braids were significant on the plantation during the longevity of the enslavement of Arican people from the 16th to 19th century (those dates are debatable). On the plantation, Sunday was rest day, which for many meant it was hair day. With extremely limited resources and time, cornrows, headrags and braiding became popular hairstyles moisturised with oil and butter in some cases. Braiding is a protective hairstyle which is long lasting. Meaning, the perfect style to hold up during the brutality of enslavement.
Quite similarly to African tradition thousands of years ago, braids were used to convey messages for the enslaved too. In recent years, a popular story that the enslaved braided escape routes into their hair went viral. This idea of outsmarting the master is one that has been welcomed by many. Braids and cornrows allowed the enslaved communities to stay in touch with their African heritage yet also create a communication channel that the oppressors failed to notice.
The 19th Century saw ‘freedom’ given to the Black population (I put freedom in quotation marks because I don’t want to give the impression that all of a sudden Black people were free of oppression. That certainly wasn’t the case.) This created its own problems, with White people facing the ‘issue’ of what to do with all these free Black people? In the same breath, the 19th century also saw courageous people like Madam CJ Walker. She promoted hair care routines for Afro hair, created her own products and created a sense of pride in Afro hair.
In the early 20th century, The Great Migration saw Black communities moving to the northern states in the US to seek employment. Chicago and New York were popular destinations and the Black community secured any employment that they were able to get — usually domestic services. Unfortunately in the north, braids and cornrows became synonymous with backwardness. This meant for some women, they turned to pressing or chemically straightening their hair, in order to fit in with society.
In reaction to this Eurocentric emphasis on hair, Marcus Garvey in the 1920s, called for Black people to go back to their natural hair — “remove the kinks from your mind, not your hair”. The Black Power Movement that gained momentum during the 1960s reiterated this same message. They rejected Eurocentric ideals of acceptable hair and helped the Black community to embrace a big part of their identity, their hair.
Looking at the modern day, school kids are being sent home or excluded for what they deem as ‘extreme hairstyles’. In reality, these children are wearing braids, dreadlocks or their natural hair (afros). In February 2020 Ruby Williams received compensation as she took her school to court, for their persistent discrimination against her hairstyle choice (an afro). The school claimed the volume of her hair could impact other students’ learning as they may not be able to see the board. This mindset that Black hairstyles aren’t professional or acceptable in a professional setting is an ideology that has permeated decades, and is something the Black community still has to face today.
Now, when White people wear these hairstyles and appropriate them into fashion statements and that is deemed okay — of course this is not going to sit well with the Black community. However, that is a discussion in itself which won’t be delved into in this article.
Professional settings, and the average person, needs to adapt and accept natural Black hairstyles. Hair that is curly, braided, in dreads or natural should no longer be associated with unprofessionalism. This is a colonial mindset: an example of how the legacy of empire still resonates in society today.
These perspectives need to be undone in order for Black people to no longer experience this discrimination and to embrace their cultural hairstyles without being made to feel uncomfortable. These hairstyles hold great significance in the Black communities’ sense of identity and pride. No one should disregard or diminish that importance by marginalising a Black person for continuing tradition. In addition, no one should carelessly appropriate these hairstyles whilst being ignorant to the realities that certain people are discriminated against by wearing those same hairstyles.
It’s only hair, some may think. But for a community of people, it is much deeper than that.
“Our hair is a statement of style, an affirmation of beauty, and an expression of self love” — Ademola Mandella.
